A Brother's Curse
by agdoll95
Summary: He was not always Toothless and he wasn't always a dragon. He was once a boy named Keir. But one morning he was unable to save his brother Tynan, and was cursed by the witch to be a dragon forever. Unable to die or forget his failure to his brother. Centuries pass and he meets Hiccup who reminds him so much of his beloved brother and vows to never let anything happen to him again.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Come on Tynan, you're going have to be faster than that." I taunted as I raced to the house.

"You're too fast Keir, slow down." I heard Tynan whine as we neared or home.

"Come on Tynan we're almost home." I said racing for the front door.

Once I reached the door, I opened it and held it open for my brother. Once we were inside our parents scolded us for being out close to sunset. We had heard the stories since we were young children, but never believed them. The stories of the witch Kerry who stole the hearts of children and devoured the life force within. Tynan and I always found them to be fascinating stories but nothing more than that, stories.

Tynan and I went to bed that night telling each other our scariest stories. Tynan fell asleep before I had a chance to finish mine, but I didn't mind. I pulled his blanket over him and brushed his auburn bangs out of his face.

"Good night little brother." I whispered.

I went to sleep that night with an uneasy feeling in my chest. But as I shut my eyes, the feeling became nothing more than just an afterthought. I was awakened by the sound of a woman singing. It was almost hypnotic. But a chilling thought snapped me out of my thoughts. Tynan wasn't in his bed.

I ran outside to look for him and found him nowhere in the yard. I then noticed a pillar of smoke rising from deep within the forest. I got the uneasy feeling again. I ran into the forest hoping with everything I am that my brother wasn't there. The deeper I ran the rougher the terrain got. I finally came to a shack with a cloaked figure dancing in front of it and the one it was dancing around was my little brother.

I gasped and ran to grab him, but the cloaked figure grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground.

"So the brother comes. I was thinking of saving you for later but it seems I may not have to wait so long after all." A female voice sounded from beneath the shroud.

I saw spots swimming in front of my eyes. The woman let me go and I collapsed on the ground heaving each breath.

"Once I have your brother's heart, you will be next." She cackled.

"I will never let you harm my brother." I coughed getting to my feet and making a grab for her, but all she did was tap my arm and I couldn't move.

"You certainly are a fighter, but even that won't be enough to save your brother." She said walking over to Tynan.

Tynan didn't even move, he was completely under the witch's control. I cried for him, begging him to run, to get away, but my cries went unanswered and I could only watch helplessly as the witch reached into his chest and tore out his heart. I could hear the sound of it beating and saw it glowing bright red.

I struggled to gain control of myself again, but the spell held firm. I could only watch as she breathed in the life that was in Tynan's heart and the light leave his emerald eyes. As I watched this, I felt myself die with him. I had failed to save the one had mattered to me most.

At last the witch released me. "Now, back to where we started. Once I have your heart, I shall be alive and young forever."

"You hag," I spat "There is not enough power in the world to make you young and beautiful."

"Well then, if that's what you think, let's see how ugly you think I am once no one will ever lay eyes on you again." She cackled.

All at once, I was frozen again, completely paralyzed. I fought for control, but the spell held firm. But it was what the witch said next that made my heart freeze.

"Twist the bones and bend the back, trim him of his baby fat, give him scales black as black just like this." She chanted.

Suddenly, my whole body started to burn and twist. I could feel my bones snapping and rearranging, new muscles growing and attaching. I fought to keep myself conscious. Once the pain was over, I feared to look at myself. But the witch gave me no chose as she showed me a mirror and I saw what she changed me into.

I was a dragon and now I could never go home. My family would undoubtly chase me away and I held no hope of anyone seeing me at night. What the witch had done was absolute. I couldn't show myself to anyone without being killed and no one would ever be able to see at night.

I let out a cry of dismay and turned on the hag. She had no time to react. I pinned her to the ground and I felt something ignite in my throat. I didn't care what it was, I let it loose and the next thing I knew, the witch was gone, as well as any chance had of ever being changed back. I whimpered and turned to my brother's lifeless form.

I may not be able to return home, but I can at least return my brother's body to our family. I draped his body over my back and trudged through the forest back to our home. Once there, I leaped through the window and let his body lay on his bed as if he were merely sleeping. I pulled the blankets over him one last time and nudged his hand in good bye.

I leapt out the window and ran back into the forest. I looked back one last time at the home I could never return to and ran back to the witch's home. I had to destroy that wretched place so no one could ever go through what I had. When I made it back, I felt the burning in the back of my throat again and let it loose.

Within seconds, the house was gone and nothing remained of the hag who had destroyed everything I loved. I didn't know what to do then except find somewhere to try and learn how to use my new wings. I had a new life ahead of me now and I might as well face the way my brother would have wanted me to. With determination and courage. I was going to keep fighting for him, I had to.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

(Two hundred years later)

I was flying somewhere over the ocean in the north, I was getting tired and losing strength. If I didn't find land soon, I would collapse and crash into the ocean.

As if in answer to my prayers, I saw a small island just up ahead. I heaved a sigh of relief and summoned whatever strength I had left and landed on the beach. I took a few steps and collapsed losing touch with reality. The last thing I saw was other dragons landing close by, I had seen other dragons, but never stayed with them long.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a hollow surrounded by other dragons. Some I had seen and some I hadn't. I tried to stand up, but head started to spin.

"Easy young one, you were very weak when we found you. You should rest for a while." A dragon I had learned to call a Nadder said as she urged me to stay down.

"Where am I?" I said settling back down.

"This island has no name, but to us, we call it home." She said.

"Thanks for helping me, but I can't stay. Once I get my strength back I should be moving on." I said politely.

"That's okay, just rest and get your strength back." She said as I rummaged around getting comfortable.

As we were talking, we felt the island starting to shake. Many dragon flew for the entrance to see what was going on. I weakly stood up and looked out myself. What I saw made my heart skip a beat and my breath catch in my throat.

It was dragon far bigger than any I had ever seen in all my travels. Many of the dragons flew out to confront the beast.

"So, I have potential servants here do I?" the beast said in a voice that made my mind feel hazy. "Well this should be interesting."

The dragons fought long and hard, but the battle last long. It only lasted a few minutes but it felt like eternity to the rest of us. It was like all it had to do was breath fire once all the dragons that had been battling were gone. Every other dragon, when they saw what that beast was capable of they fell into submission. I felt so weak for not being able to save all those dragons, but now there was nothing I could do.

Once that beast was inside, it laid down the rules.

"Everyone here is to hunt and bring me food, those who fail to do so will be the food. Is that understood?"

All the remaining dragons shrank into their hollows and acknowledged him. I had no chose, I was in condition to fight back and even if I was I wouldn't stand a chance on my own. I was trapped, I couldn't leave these dragons to this monster. I would find a way to save them even if it took me a thousand more years to do so.

**I know this chapter was short, but I thought this would be a good stopping point for the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

(Three hundred years later)

It was a beautiful night, I couldn't imagine a more beautiful night for a flight around the archipelago. Too bad I had to spend it out on another raid to get food for the beast that had so arrogantly called himself our king after he raided the island all those years ago.

After I got my strength back, I strongly considered leaving, but seeing all these dragons at the mercy of a monster reminded me how I had failed to save my brother even when I was trying and even now hundreds of years later the guilt still ate me alive. It would only get worse if I left these dragons to suffer and I did nothing to help them.

Hundreds of years later and I was still no closer to figuring out a way to defeat him without being tossed around like a rag doll.

I didn't have time to think about it, we were within range of the island we raided the most frequently. I didn't like doing this, none of us did, but it was for survival. Too bad the humans we had to raid didn't see it that way. As far as they were concerned we were the enemy and they had to fight to defend themselves. I couldn't blame them.

I was blasting down the towers and offering support when needed. I was taking out a tower not far from the battlefield when I felt something wrap around me. As it wrapped, I felt it burn my hide and the weights beat at my body as I fell from sky. I was terrified. I couldn't die, but it would still put me through a lot of pain.

I crashed through trees and a hill. Thank goodness the hill broke my decent and threw my course off cause otherwise I would have hit two boulders at the bottom of the hill. When I finally came to a stop, I thought I was safe, but I couldn't get free and I felt a burning pain in my tail but I couldn't move my head to look.

My head was throbbing and my vision was fading, I was losing consciousness. I fought to stay awake but it was too much. I finally gave in and slipped into darkness.

_I was watching someone dancing, or I think it was dancing, through ruts in the ground. I couldn't see their face. It was like staring at a face through water in the dark. But I still felt a warm feeling like I was hoping for something. As they came to a stop in front of me, they looked at me. They reached to touch me but I growled for them to stop._

_They sighed and looked away holding their hand out again. I looked at it and then him again. I decided to trust whoever they were. I moved my snout to touch his hand, a warm pulse shot through my body, like I had felt that warm feeling before. I pulled back and ran in another direction to rest._

I came to slowly. I still couldn't move and my tail still hurt but I didn't have time to worry about that. I heard someone coming.

I heard them cry out in a sharp pain. I could hear them coming closer, I closed my eyes and tried to listen to know when it would be safe to fight back.

"Oh wow, I, I, I did it, oh I did it this, this, fixes everything!" They sounded so young. "Yes, I have brought down this mighty beast." They cried in triumph placing their foot on my fore leg.

I shrugged them off with a growl. I heard them shout in surprise and scuttle back. When they came into view I saw I was right. They were no older than I was before I was cursed, possibly fourteen. As I looked at the boy, I was reminded of Tynan. I don't know why, but as I looked at him, I caught myself thinking how he looked so much like him. But this wasn't him.

"I'm gonna kill you dragon." He said with a weak confidence with a hint of fear hidden in. "I'm gonna, I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I am a Viking," he whispered, "I am a Viking!" he shouted as if to convince himself.

But I felt like he was just as frightened as I was. He raised his dagger above his head and readied to strike. I looked at him hard. He opened his eyes and looked at me again, he then closed them again and readied again. I slumped my head to the ground in defeat, I couldn't die, but my heart was all I had left. If I lost it, I don't know what I would do, it was all I had that reminded that I was once as human as he was.

Suddenly, I heard something that made think I was dreaming. "I did this." He said as he regretted everything in front of him.

I thought he was going to run and leave it at that. But then I heard the ropes being cut. My eyes snapped open and I listened and focused on where the ropes broke and where my body was free. Once I felt my fore legs and hind legs loose, I leapt at him and pinned him to the rock behind him.

He was breathing quickly and looked just as frightened as he had before he even threatened to kill me. I stared at him long and hard. Again as I stared at him, I was reminded of my brother again. Why was this kid reminding me of what I had failed ot do all those years ago?

I thought about just getting rid of the kid, but a pang hit my chest. I couldn't do it. Instead, I just shrieked in his ear and took off, or tried. My tail was unbalanced, I couldn't stay airborne. I fell into a cove not far away. As I tried over and over to get up in the air the more my tail began to sting even more. Eventually I gave up and looked at my tail.

Half of it was missing, I would never fly again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I kept trying, I kept trying to fly even though I knew half my tail was gone and that flying was now near impossible without it.

No matter how much I tried, my tail unbalanced and without it, I couldn't fly. I was trapped in a cove in the middle of an island that was sure to kill me, whether by the humans who lived here or by slowly wasting away.

After several failed attempts to fly out, I slumped to the ground in defeat. I saw a fish break the surface of the water. I took a weak step forward and hoped to get lucky. I plunged my head into the water but all the fish were faster than I thought. I groaned and laid back down. I then heard a small thack and a gasp. I looked up. I was the boy from earlier. This time he didn't look like he was hunting me, if anything he looked startled and if nothing else, curious. As we stared at each other, he and I both tilted our heads quizzically. Him, I'm sure was curious about me, and me, I caught myself wondering why he reminded me of my Tynan.

Eventually, I heard the thunder and watched as the boy ran into the forest. I don't know why, but I hoped to see him again. When he was gone, I felt a burning hope in my chest, something I hadn't felt in five hundred years. What I was feeling was, for the first time in so long, hope. Hope that I would have a reason to fight again, hope that I would have another chance to protect what I loved again.

I couldn't place it, but the boy just had this light in his eyes that made me feel like I was looking at my brother again. I needed to know, so for now, I would be patient.

**I know this chapter is short, but it's late and I'm tired but I promise to update a longer chapter next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I was sleeping on a small ledge when I heard footsteps coming down the hill into the cove. I readied myself for anything that might show up. It was the boy, and this time, he was actually coming in. I was both baffled and terrified.

What if this boy had others with him? But something in the back of my mind told me to trust him. The boy made his way through the cove nearing the ledge I was hiding on. As he made his way in front of me, I slowly crept down. He turned to face me and looked a little startled.

He held out a fish and I, though puzzled but starving, crawled closer to take it. But I caught sight of something on the boy's belt. It was a knife, probably the same one he threatened to kill me with.

I let out another growl warning him to get rid of it. He held arms-length away and dropped it, but I wanted it gone. He picked it up with his foot and kicked it into the lake. After I dropped the menacing façade, I looked at him again. I could still my little brother in him and I still didn't know why. But something told me I would find out soon.

The boy held out the fish again and I crawled closer to take it.

"Uh, Toothless." He muttered. "I could've sworn you had…" he said as I unretracted my teeth and took the fish. "…teeth." He finished sounding just as startled as before.

I stepped closer to him and he looked pretty nervous. I pushed half the fish back into his lap and bade him to eat. He was a little reluctant at first but he eventually took a bite. I know it must have been kind gross for him but even if he was human he still needed to eat. He tried to reach up to touch me, but I wasn't that trusting of him yet. I let out a growl and hubble-flew over to the other side of the lake.

I burned myself a bed of coals and settled down. The boy was right next to me. I was feeling a little annoyed but I just let him sit there. He wasn't hurting anything. I folded what was left of my tail in front of my face and tried to go to sleep. But I could feel the boy moving to touch me again. I lifted my tail and he slinked away. The annoyance growing slightly bigger I relocated myself to a low hanging branch where the boy wouldn't be able to reach me.

After an hour I the ought the boy gave up and went home but after I woke up I saw him sitting nearby on a rock. And some part of me was happy he stayed. He was either really curious and brave or really stupid and just trying to prove something. I waked over to where he was and saw what he was doing. He was drawing me. I had an idea, my brother and did this when we were just kids, to trust each other, we'd make a maze in the dirt and the one who had to find their way out was blindfolded while the other would tell them how to get out without touching a line. But since I didn't have a means of blindfolding the boy, I would just have to use the maze to test my trust in him.

I broke a branch off and started to draw around him. When I was done, I looked at it and readied to see if he would pass. He seemed to be in awe at what he was looking at cause he didn't pay attention to where he was going and stepped on a line. I growled signaling him wrong. He lifted his foot and I softened my expression. He seemed to be testing me cause he did it three more time before finally stepping over it. He stepped over one line after the other and as he made his way close to me, it looked like he was dancing, just like Tynan used to to get out.

When he came to stop in front of me, I huffed ruffling his auburn hair. He turned to face me and I faced him. He reached out to touch me again, but I still wasn't convinced. He finally turned his head away and held out his hand again. It was then that I realized that he was put his trust in me, he was trusting me to take his arm off when he wasn't looking. I felt a small impulse urge me to do the same. I closed my eyes and rested my muzzle in his hand.

Once I touched him, I felt a warm pulse shoot through my body and I now knew why this boy reminded me so much of my brother. He was my brother born again as another, the universe was giving another chance to protect him and I did not intend to fail my brother again. Because this time I was not going to let anything happen to him, I would ready to die to protect him if that's what it took.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next morning, I heard the boy again. He called me by a name I thought would be the last thing anyone would call me.

"Hey Toothless. I brought breakfast, I hope you're hungry." He said kicking over a basket he had been carrying.

It all looked so good. I was a little unsure of his new name for me, but it's not like I could tell him nay different so I just had to live with it.

"I've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod and a whole smoked eel." He said.

At the mention of the eel I back off growling. I learned centuries ago that eels were poisonous to dragons, to me. I started growling and hissing at it. The boy picked up the vile thing in question.

"No, no, no, okay. Yeah I don't really like eel much either." The boy said wiping his hand on his leg.

I started eating the fish and enjoying the taste of them all. It had been days since I had last eaten and I was feeling very hungry.

As I ate, I heard the boy talking quietly behind me. I didn't pay much attention to what he said until I felt something off about my tail. It felt weird, it felt like I had balance again.

I dropped my wings with an idea, what he had managed to restore my tail. I opened my wings slowly. I took off and felt a weight on my tail, the boy was clinging to me. We started to fall again, put all at once I pulled out of at the last second.

I was rising higher and higher into the sky. I banked back into the cove and glided over the lake. I looked back at the boy to see if he was still there. I made a sharp turn and felt his weight leave my tail. At the same time I lost control of my tail. I crashed into the lake and resurfaced to see the boy happy about something.

We swam back to the shore and I shook off the water. The boy was okay, albeit still soaking wet.

"I can't believe it actually worked. All I have to do is figure out how to keep the tail under control and you'll be flying again." He said looking at while wringing his vest and tunic out.

He looked at the sky and gasped. "Oh gods, I'm gonna be late." He said running for the entrance grabbing the eel on his way out. I raced to watch him go, and once he reached the top he looked back. "I'll be back later, I promise." He called down to me.

I watched him disappear and looked at my tail again. He had made a new tail that even though I couldn't control it now, he was going to help me fly again. I still didn't know his name, but I still couldn't help but feel the love I thought I would never have again spark to life. The love for my brother. He was back I wouldn't let anything happen to him this time.

I walked back to the tree root cover ledge and hung upside down again and fell asleep dreaming about being able to fly with my brother in the sky high above the clouds, would he enjoy it as much as I do? I'm sure he would.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next time I saw the boy, he had what looked like a saddle with him. I started to run, 'if you want to ride me, you'll have to catch me.' I thought.

He was surprisingly keeping up with me pretty well, only because I was allowing it. At every instant he would get close enough to touch me, I would put in a burst of speed and get ahead again. We only did this for a few minutes, after that time, he stopped and sat down looking pretty worn out. Five hundred years and my little brother still couldn't out run me.

I couldn't help but laugh. I sat down near him let him catch his breathe.

"You know, I haven't had this much fun since I was a kid with my Mom." He said with labored breathing. "I miss her so much."

I lifted my head hearing that. This boy had lost his mother? What happened? As if he heard my thoughts, he began to talk.

"I was still little when it happened, well littler, anyway I was upstairs in my room looking out my window waiting for my Mom's ship to come in from her latest voyage. A ship did appear, but at the time I didn't know that Mom had died onboard. They're ship had been attacked by Outcasts. They managed to fight off the Outcasts, but my Mother had died in the battle.

"They brought her body back and told us what happened. I was too young to understand that my Mom wasn't coming back. Ever since, it has been really hard on my Dad. Sometimes I think my Dad blames me for it. Ever since Mom died, Dad and I can't seem to even talk to each other. And when we do it's always the same thing, no one knows what to say. Sometimes I think he thinks I was a mistake and shouldn't have been born." He explained sadly.

I draped my wing over him and pulled him into a hug. He squirmed a bit but relaxed when he saw no danger.

"Thanks Bud, I needed that." He said returning the gesture.

It felt so warm to have his arms around my neck. I couldn't remember the last time I hugged anyone. It was a good feeling.

He continued to talk and with each tale or thought I couldn't help but think about how much he hadn't changed in the centuries he had been gone. After a few hours, I could see he was getting tired. He laid his head against my side and soon fell asleep. I wrapped my wing tighter around both of us. I smiled down at the tiny formed nestled against me. He looked so peaceful, just like the night he was taken from me, I wasn't ever going to let that happen again.

This time, no matter what, I wouldn't let anything take my brother from me.

In the weeks that followed, I had learned the boy's name and found it a little strange that his name was Hiccup, but stranger still when he started calling me Toothless. We had made some real progress getting the saddle and tail to work. Of course I couldn't fly unless he was in the saddle, but at least that meant that he and I could share the sky together.

About three weeks after he got the saddle and rigging in place, he and I went to a cliff just overlooking the cove. He tied a length of rope to a stump and the other end to the strap that wrapped around my chest. We used the breeze to practice the tail positions. It went by pretty well until the rope snapped we barreled back through the trees.

We were okay but we hit a, for lack of a better word, snag. The hook that held his flight vest in place bent and now he couldn't unhook himself. It took us hours to hobble through the forest to the village and longer still to sneak through the darkened village to the forge where he told me he spent most of his time when he wasn't with me. We made it in and he got to work trying to unbend the hook so he could unhook himself but his progress was hindered when he heard a voice from outside. From the sound of it, it was a girl and judging from Hiccup's reaction, it was someone he definitely didn't want finding us.

He threw an apron on and jumped out the window swiftly closing the window afterward.

"Astrid hey, Hi Astrid, Hi Astrid, Hi Astrid, how are you doing?" he asked awkwardly.

"I usually don't care what other people do but you're acting weird."

I started tugging on the cord to pull him back through. I could him laugh awkwardly.

"Well weirder." The girl remarked.

With a couple more tugs, Hiccup came back through the window and jumped in the saddle and we took off for the cove.

Once we got there, he got back to unbending the hook. Once it came undone, he unhooked himself and said good night.

"I'll be back tomorrow Bud, and I promise we will try out you tail for real." He brimmed as he made his way through the entrance.

'Tomorrow can't come fast enough." I thought as I settled down. 'Please stay safe Hiccup.' I thought as I fell asleep.


End file.
